Dr. Godwin Amanke, Cross River Commissioner for Quality Education, has ruled out the possibility of pupils and students in the state enjoying the usual long vacation when schools resume.
Mr Amanke said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Calabar that students would go straight to third term after resumption.
According to him, 70 per cent of schools in the state are through with their second term examination before the sudden closure of schools caused by COVID-19.
He said those schools that were not able to round-off their examination, would continue after resumption, adding that immediately examinations were concluded, the third term would commence and run through the weeks that students were supposed to go for their annual long vacation.
On the the issue of reopening schools, he said, it was not a one man or state affair because Cross River was not isolated from the other states.
“We cannot talk about reopening schools at the moment because Cross River is not in isolation but in relation with other states and the Federal Government.
“So, other stakeholders like the Federal Ministry of Education, Health and Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19, PTF, will have to be involved.
“The state ministries of education run with the policies, curriculum and syllabus as directed by the Federal Ministry of Education.
“Ordinarily, we will have said schools should reopen in the state because we have no case of COVID-19, but that won’t be in tandem with the Federal Government’s policy on ground in relationship to COVID-19,” he said.
He however called on the students in the state to take advantage of the Ayade digital learning initiative and the school on radio to learn at home.
NAN reports that as at Wednesday June 3, Cross River has remained the only state in Nigeria that was yet to officially have a case of COVID-19.
NAN
